Anwar Usman elected as new Constitutional Court chief justice

Marguerite Afra Sapiie

The Jakarta Post

Jakarta /
Mon, April 2, 2018 / 01:38 pm

Constitutional Court deputy chief justice Anwar Usman (left) shows his ballot during an election to vote for the chief justice at the court on Monday, April 2. In the voting by nine justices, Anwar was elected as the new chief justice replacing Arief Hidayat for the 2018 to 2020 period. (Kompas.com/Yoga Sukmana)

The Constitutional Court has elected Anwar Usman as the court chief justice for the 2018 to 2020 period during a plenary meeting on Monday.

Anwar won the election by a 5-to-4 majority vote, defeating justice Suhartoyo during an election process that took place in a plenary session open to the public.

Anwar will take the position left by justice Arief Hidayat, who was reelected to serve his second and final term until 2023 but had his term ended as a chief justice.

The election process was first held in a closed plenary meeting at 8:30 a.m. attended only by the nine justices of the court. However, since the meeting could not result in a consensus, the justices held the voting among them in a plenary meeting open to the public, which began shortly after 10 a.m.

Each of the nine court justices took to the podium to speak about their hopes and expectations for the next elected chief justice before they sequentially cast their votes. The vote-counting session took place immediately after the nine justices had finished casting their ballots.

Anwar was the Constitutional Court deputy chief justice first elected in 2015 and was reelected to serve in the position for the 2016 to 2018 period. He was appointed by the Supreme Court in 2011 and was serving his second and final term that was originally to end in April 2021.

Following the election, the nine justices held a deliberation in a closed plenary meeting to elect the new Constitutional Court deputy chief justice to replace Anwar. The elected chief justice is set to take an oath before the court in the afternoon. (rin)